The Senate Thursday, confirmed renewal of appointment of Dr Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) for another five-year tenure in office.
Senate’s confirmation of Emefiele’s reappointment as CBN governor was sequel to recommendation made to that effect by its committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in a letter dated 8th May, 2019 requested the Senate to confirm appointment of Emefiele as CBN governor for another term of five years , having assumed office for his first tenure June 2, 2014 .
The Senate accordingly referred the presidential request to its Committee on Banking , Insurance and other Financial Institutions Tuesday this week, upon which the committee screened the CBN governor on Wednesday and laid its report in plenary Thursday .
Moving for Emefiele’s confirmation, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim ( PDP Kwara South), said having introduced and implemented series of initiatives that impacted positively on the economy, Emefiele as requested by the President, deserved second term of five years in office .
“The committee in this report recommends to the Senate to confirm renewal of appointment of Godwin Emefiele as CBN Governor , having shown effective management of the foreign exchange regime , monetary policy etc, which brought about micro economic stability for the country “, he said .
Senator Ibrahim’s motion was seconded by Senator Chukwuka Utazi ( PDP Enugu North) and accordingly put to voice votes by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki which was unanimously voted for by all the Senators in attendance.
Saraki in his remarks after the confirmation of Emefiele’s reappointment at exactly 11: 29am, wished him a more successful second term tenure .
He however, urged him to improve on implementation of series of development – driven politics he has introduced in stabilising the economy.
Emefiele had on Wednesday while facing the Senate Committee on Banking for the screening, submitted that part of the initiatives put up by CBB under him to develop the economy was the Anchor Borrowers Programmes which he said , has helped to engage 1.1million farmers across the country.
“We from the Central Bank of Nigeria from the monetary policy side, have come to realisation that using the instrumentality of the Anchor Borrowers Programme where acesss to credit is being provided to our masses all over the country, that it will be a way to generate employment and boost economic activity amongst our rural population.
“The results are there to see that as a result of our Anchor Borrowers Programme where we have disbursed over N190 billion to over 1.1 million farmers, cultivating over 1.3 million hectares of land, that we need to do more of this.
“As we do this, we make finance available at low interest rate, we make access to credit easy for our people. And in doing this, we will be able to create jobs for them and improve the livelihood of our people”, he said .
